Spark Capital is getting ready to place more bets on startups, as well as fuel the growth of later-stage companies. The Boston-based venture capital firm has closed two new funds amounting to $1 billion total.
Spark also garnered $600 million in commitments for its second growth fund, just two years after launching its debut growth fund with $375 million in capital. Like a lot of early-stage funds that have raised so-called opportunity funds in recent years, Spark uses the capital to invest in its breakout portfolio companies. Among the startups it has funded are the Brazilian real estate portal VivaReal and the automated investing platform Wealthfront.
The New York Times reported late Monday that the VC firm had closed on its fifth venture fund for $400 million and a second growth fund for $600 million. While the venture fund is $50 million less than its previous one from 2013--which remains its largest fund yet--the new growth fund is significantly larger than the $375 million growth fund it closed in 2014.
The announcement comes as Spark continues to find high-profile success with its portfolio. One of its most recent noteworthy exits is Cruise Automation, which raised a $12.5 million round led by Spark last fall and was sold to GM for about $1 billion in March. Other recent exits include Coin (acquired by Fitbit) and Heyday (acquired by Postmates).
"No one knows what the next big platform is," Spark Partner Nabeel Hyatt told the Times. "Now is a new market time."
Spark's biggest success stories have been Wayfair (initial public offering in 2014), Twitter (IPO in 2013) and Oculus (acquired by Facebook). It also backed Foursquare, however, which has slid from its peak in popularity and finds itself working on a reinvention effort. Spark's current portfolio companies include Slack, Postmates and Warby Parker.
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